Significant Others

Are you significant? That was the question posed by ethicist
Michael Josephson, founder of the Joseph & Edna Josephson
Institute of Ethics, at the Orange County (California) Ethics in
America awards dinner last June, where I'm proud to say
Entrepreneur won an Ethics Award. Josephson asked the
audience if we understood the difference between success and
significance. Most of us yearn to be successful, thinking it will
mark our place in this world. But is that what it's really
about? Is it enough to be a success, or should we also strive for
significance?

There are many paths to significance, and I can't tell you
how to traverse yours. But one of the most rewarding ways to leave
your mark is to reach out to the young. And one of the best ways to
do that is through Students in Free Enterprise, more commonly known
as SIFE, a nonprofit organization found on hundreds of college
campuses across the United States and overseas. Its membership
consists of top officers from some of the world's most
successful corporations and a group of dedicated professors who
give tirelessly to the most important SIFE component-the students.
SIFE students compete by undertaking projects that help educate and
inspire people in their communities, across the nation and around
the world.

Ethics, or the lack thereof, played a big role at this
year's SIFE competition. Flagler College, this year's SIFE
National Champions in the four-year school division, presented the
ethics challenge to high schoolers in their hometown of St.
Augustine, Florida, as well as to college students at the
University of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Their main theme:
Learn to do the right thing, even when no one's looking.

Ethics was also stressed by the students at Louisiana State
University at Eunice, SIFE's two-year school champs for the
second year in a row. Their focus was on teaching that "profit
without ethics is cheating."

I don't want to give the impression that SIFE is all about
ethics; it's not. But SIFE is all about being significant,
which Webster's defines as having meaning, influence or effect.
That brings us back to the question: Are you significant?
Obviously, as a business owner, you have an effect in your company.
But that's not enough. You need to do more.

You can emulate the students at California State University,
Chico, and offer HOPE, which stands for Helping Others Pursue
Entrepreneurship. This could be as simple as creating an internship
program so young wanna-be entrepreneurs can see what the
entrepreneurial experience is all about. Then there's
mentoring. Even if you can't spare the time to be a mentor,
perhaps some of your employees can and would-especially with your
encouragement.

As I was writing this, I got an e-mail about Chef Hilly's
Kitchen. Chef Hilly, a 31-year-old Atlanta-bred chef, founded
his chocolate gourmet treats company only three years ago. We all
know how important cash flow is to young businesses, but Chef
Hilly, whose mom is a breast cancer survivor, donates 10 percent of
his proceeds to fund mammograms for disadvantaged women. That is
significant.

If you are a college student, I encourage you to join SIFE. If
your school does not have a chapter, go to www.sife.org, and find
out what you can do about starting one. As for all you
entrepreneurs out there, I'm asking you to heed the words of
19th century clergyman and author Edward Everett Hale, who said,
"I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something."